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Zhang Xin grew up in poverty and at the age of 14 began a laboring job in a factory. Today, she is richer than Donald Trump, Steven Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey.

Zhang, a Chinese real estate developer, is the seventh richest self-made woman in the world, worth $3.6 billion, according to Forbes. She's worth $800 million more than Oprah Winfrey, the world's best known self-made female billionaire.

Not only does Zhang's rags-to-riches story mirror that of China itself, but it is Zhang who has shaped much of the country's modern urban landscape, with the logo of her company SOHO China on the side of buildings wherever you turn in Beijing.

SOHO China has 18 developments in Beijing, many of them landmark buildings, and has recently expanded to Shanghai, where it has bought or built 11 properties.

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China's changing skyline – Galaxy SOHO, designed by Pritzker Prize winning architect Zaha Hadid for Zhang' SOHO China, was built in 2012 on a 50,000 square meter plot in central Beijing. It was Hadid's first building in Beijing.

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China's changing skyline9 photos

Landmark buildings – With its gracefully merging dynamic form devoid of corners, Galaxy SOHO, has become a landmark building in on Beijing's East 2nd Ring Road.

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China's changing skyline9 photos

Luxury on the Great Wall – SOHO China's development Commune by the Great Wall is a collection of 42 villas by 12 Asian architects with a private pathway to the Great Wall of China. This villa is called Suitcase House by Hong Kong architect Gary Chang.

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Prize-winning architecture – Commune by the Great Wall was exhibited at the 2002 Biennale di Venezia, where it received a special prize.

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Future peaks – SOHO Peaks, currently under construction and due to open in 2014, is a second building by the architect Zaha Hadid, midway between Beijing city and airport.

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Chinese fans – The design of SOHO Peaks, by architect Zaha Hadid, is based on Chinese fans that circle and embrace each other.

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China's changing skyline9 photos

Shanghai style – Sky SOHO, due for completion this year, is a third development designed by architect Zaha Hadid, this time in Shanghai. The design is based on calligraphy.

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The future of shopping – Sanlitun SOHO, completed in 2010, comprises of five shopping malls and nine office or apartment buildings of varying heights in Beijing.

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Beijing's new night sky – Sanlitun SOHO has become one of the liveliest shopping streets in Beijing, with its five malls linked with a rollerskating rink and mesmerizing courtyard.

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EXPAND GALLERY

Zhang, 47, was born in Beijing just before Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution, when educated people like her parents were sent to the fields for "re-education." She returned to Beijing with her mother, but they endured poverty and hardship.

"I was born and grew up when the city was very quiet: no cars, no shops, no lights, no machines. People were just on bicycles," she said.

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At 14, she and her mother moved to Hong Kong, where she spent five years in low-paid factory jobs, manufacturing toys, clothes and electronics, trying to save enough to go to England for an education.

"As a new immigrant to Hong Kong with no education, no background, didn't even speak the local language or dialect, Cantonese, and it was just a hard way to live in Hong Kong," said Zhang.

It took Zhang five years to save enough for a plane ticket to London and an English language course. She won a scholarship to university, studied for a master's degree in economics at Cambridge University and landed her first job at Goldman Sachs in New York.

Instead of remaining in her comfortable life in Wall Street, Zhang returned to Beijing, where she met her husband, and together they started SOHO China.

"There was excitement of people talking about how to change China, and it was a very intellectually vibrant time," she said. "I felt that this country was really making a transition, and I wanted to be a part of that."

Since Zhang and her husband, Pan Shiyi, formed SOHO China in 1995, it has become China's largest commercial real estate developer, with 56 million square feet in prime developments in Beijing and Shanghai.

While Zhang's story is incredible -- giving her celebrity status in China -- it is not unique. Of Forbes' 2013 list of 24 self-made female billionaires, six are from China (including one from Hong Kong), more than any other country outside the United States.

"I think women of our generation went through Cultural Revolution, went through hardship, coming from nowhere, and suddenly see China's amazing opportunity," said Zhang. "So women just seized the opportunity."

Zhang has a following of more than 5 million on Weibo, the Chinese social media site often compared with Twitter, where she shares her views on business, current affairs and architecture.

But despite her financial success, Zhang, who practices the Baha'i faith, avoids excessive trappings of wealth, even suggesting her 14-year-old son find a job in McDonald's or KFC. He tried, but was too young to be accepted.

"It's not easy to be my sons because we're very high profile. We try so hard to give them a normal life," she said.

"I'm very, very tight with them about money. I don't give that money until they ask, 'I need 100 yuan for my lunch card,' and so on. So they never have extra money. But I think that still cannot compare to how we came, where we came (from)."